Mozambique: Renamo calls National Council meeting for 21 and 22 October in Maputo city — Watch

The Mozambican National Resistance (Renamo, opposition) on Friday announced that it will hold a National Council meeting on 21 and 22 October in Maputo city to assess the national situation and the internal situation of the party, whose leadership under Ossufo Momade is facing strong opposition.

“Call the National Council meeting for 21 and 22 October to discuss the situation in the country and also discuss the internal situation of the party. After all, Renamo is a party of Mozambicans and discussing these issues is part of the country’s development agenda,” spokesperson Marcial Macome said, adding that the political commission would decide on the agenda “in due course”.

At a press conference in Maputo, the party spokesperson also said that the National Council would be responsible for deciding on a possible extraordinary congress to choose a new leader, which does not depend on the “agenda of individuals”.

“Renamo has its own organs, President Ossufo is Renamo’s president, elected at a congress [in May 2024]. And this can only be undone at a congress,” Macome added, assuring that the party “is happy” with Ossufo.

The holding of the National Council meeting has been advocated by Ossufo Momade’s internal critics, including veteran and former MP António Muchanga, who has publicly called for the leader to step down. Former guerrillas have also demanded his departure from the leadership of Renamo, occupying party headquarters in protest.

The National Council meeting had previously been scheduled for last March. However, it did not take place, and instead a meeting of generals and senior officers was held in Chimoio, Manica province, on 27 and 28 March.

At the time, Renamo announced that the National Council meeting would be held during the first half of the year, which did not happen, and said that Ossufo Momade, the party’s embattled leader, could leave office later this year.

“The Renamo leader made it clear that he would not stand for the party presidency, but he also made it clear that he could not leave office without a congress being held, in order to prevent the internal conflict from worsening,” said a statement issued by the political party at the time.

Renamo held the meeting of generals and officers in Chimoio, in central Mozambique, where it decided that the National Council meeting should be held during the first half of the year. “If the National Council decides to hold an Extraordinary Congress, [then] President Ossufo Momade could leave office later this year,” the party said in a statement at the time.

The generals’ and officers’ meeting also called for the “immediate and unconditional” reopening of the party’s political offices that had been closed by former guerrillas in some provinces of the country, to allow for the “effective functioning of the party machinery”.

In what became known as the “Chimoio Declaration”, Renamo also decided, among other things, to hold a meeting of party cadres, identify and accelerate pension payments to demobilised fighters, prepare for the next elections, and call for unity among members in the interests of the party.

For months, former Renamo guerrillas have been calling for Ossufo Momade to resign as leader. He was re-elected in May 2024 and has been accused of “mismanagement”, failure to pay pensions and allowances, and “total incompetence” in the face of the party’s crisis.

In January, Momade said that internal crises had always marked the party’s history, but that the organisation had never stopped functioning.

“This did not start with Ossufo Momade, nor with President Afonso Dhlakama [1953-2018] himself,” the party leader said, noting that Renamo had remained active despite internal conflicts over the years.

In 2018, Momade succeeded Afonso Dhlakama as party president. Dhlakama died that year.

Momade, 64, was the presidential candidate in the October 2024 general elections, in which he received 6% of the vote, the worst-ever result for a candidate backed by Renamo, which also lost its status as the leading opposition party in those elections.